In the midst of news about a flailing economy, war continuing against terrorists around the world, and now new threats from N. Korea we need now more than ever to celebrate the many successes of this great country. We just celebrated another Memorial Day and one of the things that our country — defended by the brave — does well is science. The one year anniversay of the Mars Phoenix landed just passed. There is a Twitter page with lots of info, including repeat tweets of the events of a year ago.

Take a look at this photo — actual photo of Phoenix with its chute deployed during landing.

Image: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona  Via http://www.uahirise.org/phoenix-descent.php (accessed 5/26/09) — High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment.

Watch the landing video from JPL Mission Control during Phoenix landing on Mars, inter-cut with landing animation.

Yes, I too wonder about the massive dollars we spend on space science but it’s not something you can turn off and on at will when the economy tanks.